Outgoing IRS chief Miller insists actions were not political

The outgoing head of the United States tax office admits the actions of some staff in targeting Tea Party-aligned groups were "obnoxious" but says they were not politically motivated.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) acknowledged last week that in 2010, employees subjected conservative groups, including those with "Tea Party" and "Patriots" in their names, to increased scrutiny when they applied for non-profit status.

Politicians hammered Steven Miller, who resigned this week at the request of president Barack Obama, over abuse of power at the agency which Democrats and Republicans alike have criticised as outrageous and unacceptable.

At a tense hearing before Congress, Mr Miller apologised for what he acknowledged were "mistakes" and "horrible customer service" provided by the IRS.

"Even the perception of partisanship has no place at the IRS," he said.

Foolish mistakes were made by people trying to be more efficient in their workload selection.

Steven Miller

"I do not believe that partisanship motivated the people who engaged in the practices described" in an internal report on the abuse.

"Foolish mistakes were made by people trying to be more efficient in their workload selection."

Mr Miller faced a four-hour grilling from politicians, including Republican committee chairman Dave Camp, who was angry that the IRS never told Congress that top officials, including Mr Miller, knew about the abuse in May 2012.

"In fact, we were repeatedly told no such targeting was happening," Mr Camp Mr told Miller.

'Rotten at the core'

Mr Camp demanded that Mr Miller tell Congress "who started the targeting, who knew, when did they know, and how high did it go?"

Mr Camp called for radical reform of the tax system, describing it as "rotten at the core".

Mr Obama said Thursday he had no prior knowledge of the abuse, and Mr Miller told the hearing he "absolutely" did not contact the White House when he first learned of the burdensome scrutiny of the conservative groups last May.

Some Republicans have seized on the scandal - coupled with the revelation that the Justice Department secretly seized several journalists' phone records - as an example of big-brother government run amok.

And they are probing possible links to the White House, in a bid to draw the Democratic president into the controversy.

We were repeatedly told no such targeting was happening. That isn't being misleading, that is lying.

Republican committee chairman Dave Camp

Politicians like Republican Kevin Brady demanded to know who exactly who was responsible for wrongdoing, but Mr Miller was not forthcoming, saying: "I don't have names for you, Mr Brady."

And, while he acknowledged the excess scrutiny was "inappropriate," he stressed that: "It's my belief that what happened here wasn't illegal."

The Treasury's inspector general for tax Russell George, who investigated the wrongdoing and also testified, concurred, saying that while targeting such groups is unusual, "it is not illegal".

But several politicians including Paul Ryan, last year's Republican vice-presidential nominee, insisted Mr Miller withheld information from Congress last July by not disclosing the abuse he had learned about two months earlier.

Mr Miller bristled at Mr Ryan's accusation.

"I did not mislead the committee. I stand by my answer then; I stand by my answer now," he said.

Congressional fury was bipartisan in the hearing, where leaders of some Tea Party groups sat in the audience.

Senior Democrat Sander Levin called for the resignation of Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official who acknowledged the wrongdoing a week ago, days after telling a congressional committee nothing of the abuse.

Mr Miller described a process of "triage" in dealing with 70,000 applications for non-profit status that flooded in after the Supreme Court ruled in 2010 it is legal for companies or organisations to spend money on political activity.

The under-staffed department studying the applications began "centralising" the groups, Mr Miller said.

While he criticised the methods, he defended the close scrutiny, saying "politics is an area where we always asked more questions, as we are obligated by law to do".

Seething Democrat Charles Rangel said the IRS's integrity, as well as that of the president, was on the line.

"People are losing confidence in our government," he told Mr Miller, "and I hope that you feel the same sense to find out what caused this... and help us to restore the confidence that Americans should have in their government."

Incoming acting IRS chief Daniel Werfel has been asked to spearhead a "thorough review" of the scandal-plagued agency and report back to Mr Obama in 30 days, a Treasury Department official said.

Mr Werfel, a White House budget official, will report to Mr Obama about progress in holding IRS staff accountable for inappropriate actions, correcting failures that led to the targeting, and taking a forward systemic view of the IRS, the Treasury official said in a statement.